USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > Reports and papers. Fairfield County Historical Society, Bridgeport, Conn. 1882-1896-97 > Part 4
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RULE V.
The election of new members of said Society shall be by a unanimous vote, by ballot or otherwise, at any annual, regular or special meeting of the Society: the nomination of such new members having first been made at a preceding meet- ing and not less than one week previous to such voting.
RULE VI.
No application for membership of said Society shall be en- tertained or acted upon, unless accompanied by a written or printed request of the applicant, dated and signed by the applicant in person.
RULE VII.
An initiation fee of two dollars shall aecompany each appli- cation for annual membership.
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RULE VIII.
A due of two dollars shall be laid upon each annual mem- ber of the Society living in Bridgeport, Stratford, Trumbull and Fairfield, and one dollar for all the others. This amount shall be paid to the Treasurer annually, during the month of July, unless excused by the Society.
Any member remaining in arrears for dues may be dropped from membership by a majority vote of the members present at any regular meeting of the Society.
RULE IX.
Any approved person may, upon election according to Rule V, become a Life Member on the payment of two hun- dred dollars, or a Patron Member for five years on the pay- ment of twenty-five dollars, and both Life and Patron Mem- bers shall be entitled to all the privileges of the Society. The Society may elect, according to the manner provided in Rule V, as Honorary Members, persons whose membership may be an honor or advantage to said Society, and they shall be entitled to all the privileges of the Society except voting.
All members other than Life, Patron and Honorary shall be known and designated as Annual Members.
RULE X.
These Rules and By-Laws may be altered, amended, re- pealed or added to, by a major vote of the members present at any annual, regular or special meeting of said Society, notice of such proposed repeal, alteration or amendment hav- ing been given at a previous meeting of the Society, not less than one weck before final action thereon is taken.
RULE XI.
The Rules of this Society may be temporarily suspended by unanimous consent of all the members present at any regu- lar, annual or special meeting of the Society.
MEMBERS
OF THE
FAIRFIELD COUNTY IHISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Rowland B. Lacey, Bridgeport, . . . . Original Member.
Nathaniel E. Wordin, M. D. Bridgeport.
William H. Noble, Bridgeport, .
¥
66
George C. Waldo, Bridgeport, .
William B. Hincks, Bridgeport ..
66
Louis N. Middlebrook, Bridgeport, *Aaron B. Hull, Danbury,
.Elected Feb. 18, 1881.
Joseph N. Ireland, Bridgeport, . Richard C. Ambler, Bridgeport, William T. Minor, Stamford, .
Lemuel Sanford, Redding,
46 66
66
66
*Henry M. Hoyt, Bridgeport,
Charles Burr Todd, Redding,
Henry G. Scofield, Bridgeport, . James Ryder, Danbury,
May 6, 66
"
6.
Elias S. Hawley, Buffalo, N. Y.
" June 3,
Curtis Thompson, Bridgeport,
" Aug. 5,
William A. Beers, Fairfield,
" Sept. 2,
66
Eaton W. Maxey, D. D. Bridgeport, * William Shelton, D. D. Buffalo, N. Y. Rev. George S. Burroughs, N. Britain . A. Homer Byington, Norwalk,
¥
" Oct. 14,
" Nov. 11,
Winthrop H. Perry, Norwalk,
Walter Hubbell, New York City,
David B. Lockwood, Bridgeport,
" Feb. 10,
66
·Deceased.
66
.€
-
¥
Mar. 66
James L. Gould, Bridgeport, James W. Beardsley, Bridgeport
..
.
11
*Stiles M. Middlebrook, Bridgeport, Elected Mar. 10, 1882. Frederick Bronson, Greenfield Hill, . O. P. Dexter, New York City, 66 David H. Miller, Georgetown, " April 21,
Horace L. Fairchild, Trumbull, . 66
Samuel M. Main, New York City, Nathan M. Belden, Wilton,
66
66
*Barzillai B. Kellogg, Brookfield, J. M. Bailey, Danbury,
=
John W. Bacon, Danbury, 4 66 66
John D. Caudee, Bridgeport,
66 66
66
66 66
Warren B. Nichols, West Stratford, Samuel Garlick, M. D. Bridgeport. . Eugene Morehouse, Stratford,
William S. Bouton, S. Norwalk,
Plumb N. Fairchild, Trumbull, .
Morris B. Beardsley, Bridgeport, Thomas Calef, Bridgeport,
" April 5, 66
" June 9,
66 66
" Feb. 8, 1884.
Thomas B. Fairchild, Stratford,
" May 9,
Edward F. Meeker, Bridgeport,
" July 11, 6.
William L. Sherwood, Newark, N. J. Rev. G. H. Nichols, Hoosic Falls, N. Y.
" Feb. 13, 1885.
6€
Robert W. Curtis, Stratford ..
" Mar. 66
Nathaniel Wheeler, Bridgeport, .
" April 10,
66
Arthur E. Meaker, Bethlehem, Pa. Nathan B. Wells, Stratford, . Albert S. Comstock, New Canaan,
Samuel L. Carter, New York City
Amos S. Treat, Bridgeport, .
Silas Burton, Bridgeport, .
Ebenezer S. Phillips, Bridgeport,
66
" Aug. 14, 1885.
6.
66
John L. Morehouse, Fairfield,
.. 66
May 12,
" Sept. 8, " Jan. 12, 1883. " Mar. 9,
*Eli T. Hoyt, Daubury, .. Oliver B. Jennings, Fairfield, Frederick S. Wildman, Danbury, Rev. Samuel Orcutt, Bridgeport,
" Sept. 12,
Phineas T. Barnum, Bridgeport,
" June 26, " July 10,
66
*Deceased.
HONORARY MEMBERS.
REV. BENJAMIN L. SWAN, Mendham, N. J.
REV. E. E. BEARDSLEY. D. D .. New Haven, Ct.
J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL, LL.D., Hartford. Ct.
CHARLES J. HOADLEY, Hartford, Ct.
REV. HORATIO N. POWERS, D. D., Bridgeport. Ct.
ABRAHAM W. MOREHOUSE. Bridgeport. Ct.
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FOURTH ANNIVERSARY MEETING.
The fourth annual meeting of the Fairfield County Histori- cal Society, the first under the new charter, was holden at the Mayor's office, Wheeler Building, Main street, April 10, 1885, the President of the Society, R. B. Lacey, Esq., in the Chair. A large number were present ineluding a goodly pro- portion of members from out of town. The meeting was called to order shortly after eight o'clock, and the following call under the new act of incorporation was read :
** THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The undersigned, duly authorized by Special Aet of the General Assembly, at its present session, ineorporating The Fairfield County Historieal Society, hereby gives notice that the first Annual Meeting of said Society for the election of officers under the provisions of said Act, will be held at the Mayor's office, in the City of Bridgeport, on Friday evening. April 10th, 1885, at 7 o'clock. Also to do any other business that may properly come before said meeting.
This meeting will be in the place of the usual Annual Meet- ting, and will receive the annual reports of the officers of the Society, and will also be favored with interesting papers and addresses."
ROWLAND B. LACEY, President. Bridgeport, April 1st, 1885.
The President then delivered the following address :
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.
Friends and Members of The Fairfield County Historical Society :
We are met this evening on the occasion of the fourth an- niversary of the organization of this Society. The year past has been marked with points of special progress. The secre-
*Published in the Daily and Weekly Standard.
.
14
taries and other officers will take these np, and treat them properly, under their several heads. There are two or three only to which I propose to allude.
First, The actual commencement and considerable progress upon the History of Old Stratford and Bridgeport, by Rev. Samuel Orcutt, under the auspices of this Society. One num- ber of one hundred and eighty pages has been published and has been received with much favor for its evident thorough- ness and impartiality. The Society has been favored at its monthly meetings with scraps from Mr. Orcutt's further labors and research, which give promise of a faithful and in- teresting history. More and more interest is elicited in regard to local and family history and geneologies. The old family relics-rare and ancient books, and newspapers are brought out. We have the basis and could easily gather a collection of great interest and value, had the Society a suit- able place for their exhibition and safe-keeping. For the pres- ent we are kindly offered space for valuables of small bulk in bank safes. But for the proper developement and useful- ness of the Society we need a building-fire-proof-at least a portion of it. In our growing community there are kindred uses, which together with the Historical Society, would worthily occupy a neat fire-proof structure in a central posi- tion, and we hope and pray that some citizen or friend, of ample means may be moved to erect for himself or herself such a building, as the very best kind of a monument-a monument that shall not only keep the memory fresh and green, but shall be a centre from which shall radiate most benign influences, reaching back and gathering up treasures from the past, for the pleasure and profit of the present and future generations.
Second, For the purpose of placing the Society in position for its highest usefulness in just these lines, we have sought and procured from the General Assembly now in session, au Act of Incorporation, "with power to purchase, receive, hold and convey real and personal estate to an amount not exceed- ing fifty thousand dollars, which together with the income thereof, nsed for the purpose aforesaid, shall be exempt from
15
taxation, &c." It is expected that we elect officers and organize anew under this act this evening, and anew fling- ing our banner to the breeze we desire not only to rally and stimulate the old corps, but invite enthusiastic recruits, to prosecute the good work in which we are engaged with new vigor.
Third, The fact has been emphasized in our labors and researches, that the ancient records of the original towns, also ancient church and parish records are fast going to decay. This could be illustrated most amply and forcibly did time permit. The value and importance of these early rec- ords is conceded and need not be argued. Immediate effort is demanded to have them reproduced, preserved and made easily accessible to all. Individual interest where it exists, is apt to be fitful and uncertain for the purpose. The towns neglect these old records. Nor can the present original towns, though bearing the ancient name, and the custodians of the early records, retaining as they do only a tythe of their ancient limits, be expected to bear the entire expense re- quired. The real interest in them is wider. Wide as the State and the State's representatives throughout the whole country. The State has promoted the publication of the so- called "Colonial Records " found at Hartford and New Haven. These embrace much that was sent up to Hartford from Stratford and Fairfield, for instance, of no more value to the public at large, than very much or all of the early records of those towns up to 1700. The State thus is the party largely in interest and State aid should be afforded for the purpose in question, extending to all such old towns as Stratford, Fair- field, Stamford, etc. Their position in their earliest settle- ment was isolated and peculiar-arising from their great dis- tance from the central court, and the great difficulty of com- munication. The general court appointed magistrates in special manner for these towns. Ludlow and others exer- cised large powers, giving the settlements the position of separate plantations. Holding these sentiments and trusting that they could be duly impressed upon the minds of our legislators at Hartford, we petitioned the General Assembly
16
now in session for an appropriation of the sum of $2,000, to be expended by the Society for the aforementioned objeets under the direction of Hou. C. J. Hoadley, the State Libra- rian.
We regret that our efforts before the committee on the judiciary, to whom our petition was referred, failed. It may be pursued further this year by our efficient representatives. Should the effort be altogether unsuccessful we propose to renew it-we hope successfully, in the near future.
REPORT OF THE RECORDING SECRETARY.
The report of the Recording Secretary, Dr. N. E. Wordin, was then read. The Secretary stated among other facts, that the Society numbers twenty-seven members in Bridgeport, and thirty-nine members in the county outside, making sixty- six in all .* During the past year one member, Major Hoyt, had died; there had been eleven regular meetings and oue . special meeting, and the work of the Society had been much advanced. The Secretary also gave some valuable hints as to the future.
REPORT OF THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
The Corresponding Secretary, Major L. N. Middlebrook, re- ported a large amount of correspondence and an increasing interest in the work of the Society by members and others scattered over the entire country.
REPORT OF THE TREASURER AND CURATOR.
The Treasurer and Curator, R. C. Atubler, Esq., reported a very satifactory condition of the finances, library and muse- um, and the reports were accepted for record.
*A number of these have been dropped from the list by action of the Society, under Rule VIII.
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SOME DUTCH TROUBLES IN EARLY CONNEC- TICUT.
READ BEFORE THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT THEIR FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL 10TH, 1885.
BY THE AUTHOR, WILLIAM A. BEERS.
Perhaps no phase of national significance has so slight foundation for literal application as the familiar one, "Dutch Courage"; yet even up to our present cpoch of historical research the notion is quite general that the courage of a Dutchman is mostly the outcome of schiedam schnapps, beer, or other stimulant of a pot calor nature.
Motley did much to explode this fallacy when he told the world of the greatness of the ancient Dutch Republic with its three thousand ships, and its one hundred thousand sailors, whose sober, daring and successful enterprise excited the wonder of the Eastern Hemisphere.
No Connecticut man, therefore, however loyal, need abate one jot of his pride of ancestry when reminded that the original (i. e., after the aboriginal) settlers of his country were Dutchinen, and that his forefathers found, not only a vigorous opponent to English civilization, but a foeman worthy of his steel in the lusty Hollander of nearly three centuries ago.
Nor was the typical "New Amsterdammer " precisely the sort of person whom the genius of Irving led him to de- seribe as "a man exactly five feet six inches in height and six feet five inches in circumference, who ate. drank and smoked twelve hours and slept the other half of the twenty-four." The ancient Knickerbocker, it is true, was inclined to be rotund, convivial, and contemplative, but he was also con- scientious, orderly and altogether respectable, and he founded a metropolis that still holds him in pride and reverence.
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As early as 1609 the little Dutch yacht Half-Moon dropped anchor in the familiar river that now bears the name of its discoverer ; and although he was an Englishman, he was prospecting under Dutch authority, and it was the hand of a Dutchman that planted the emblem of the States General on territory that all to-day acknowledge as the Empire State of the Western World.
English historians are quite fond of saying that this dis- covery of the Hudson river was quite as much the result of accident as design, that the voyage of the Half-Moon was simply a commercial venture of the East India company who were stupidly quite as rejoiced to see their vessel returned as Hudson himself-so little did they comprehend the possibili- ties to which the voyage pointed ; and that, in the broad sun- light of the discovery by the Cabots, which they thought should inelnde the whole continent, the claim presently set up of priority by a Dutch trading company was all moon- shine.
Nevertheless, the East India company promptly despatched to Manhattan a body of traders; a goodly company of set- tlers followed and Holland officially took possession of what is now New York, together with considerable adjoining terri- tory that included our own State of Connecticut-the whole being called New Netherlands. And this was done despite the threats of Old and the protests of New England ; and thus began troubles between the conflicting nationalities which continued for more than half a century.
To fully understand why such unnatural troubles should disturb the natural solitude of early Connecticut, we should remember that the traders, who penetrated these wilds were quite different in character from the good people of New Amsterdam; for, while the latter came with pretty much the same purpose as the people of aneient Connecticut, the former had scarcely other objeet than to buy up large tracts on which to monopolize trade with the natives, and being a rov- ing, careless class, made themselves obnoxious to our sober, staid fathers, in a variety of obvious ways. When, therefore, in the autumn of 1633, a company of planters from Plymouth,
19
broke ground at Windsor, and found, within half a dozen miles, a Dutch fort and trading station, and were confronted with a claim of the Dutch West India Co. that coolly took in the entire valley, we cannot wonder that a series of bitter quarrels was inaugurated. The Dutchman, indignant that his Indian deeds were questioned, seornfully smiled at any allusion to Plymouth charter or King James' patent. He laughed outright at the Scriptural texts with which the pil- grim was wont to bolster what he considered his peculiar privileges ; such utterances, the Dutch frontiersman argned, were those of Christians, who served God, after first taking care of themselves. But the Plymouth-man gradually got the better of his rival by cutting down the trees and plowing the grounds nearer and nearer the trading stations, continuing the civilizing process until the jovial traders were compelled to seek more congenial quarters. The Good Hope Fort had not been happily named ; its promise of future wealth was broken by English axe and plow ; its wild surroundings soon gave place to the tilled fields and neat habitations of a people that had come to stay. Let us remark here, however, that it was from no lack of courage that the trader withdrew from this region-the staunch Hollander, who had conquered his country from the sea and had defiantly sailed the English channel with a broom at mast-head, was not to be daunted by any impediment in the American wilderness. But his oc- cupation gone he discreetly retired, and, as may be said, with all the honors of war.
It seems pertinent to recall just here that when Captain Underhill, "the Friar Tuck of New England Greenwood" feasted his twenty-three men within the abandoned pallisades of Good Hope, he found little to reward his exploit, and, indeed, had to supply his own " Dutch Conrage."
Failure often follows the best endeavor, and the best sue- eess is not always the award of better motive ; but our fathers insisted that the Dutch were wrong, from first to last, both in object and action. There was a wide difference, they argued, between settlers who came to make permanent homes for themselves in a land specially reserved by providence, and
20
the godless adventurers who had no better errand than to multiply patroonships and heap up wealth and temporary power after the manner of the greedy monoply, the East In- dia Company, in heathen lands; and so, it was clearly a providential decree that the Dutch must go.
Many attacks of Indians, too, were laid at the door of the traders-they being supposed to have identity of interests with the natives-and there was hardly a meeting of the Gen- eral Court but acensations of a league to destroy all the English were seriously considered. Many of these reports, so far as my reading goes to show, were indignantly denied by the Dutch who, nevertheless, were objects of suspicion long after the vicinity of Good Hope was rid of them.
Boundary lines continued to be alleged sources of dispute and often bloodshed. when suspicion and cupidity were the real causes ; and the hard facts of history eompel the confes- sion that our worthy sires were as frequently in the wrong as the mueh abused Dutch.
For a notable instance, how shall we explain away the fact that when, in 1635, John Winthrop, the younger, brought over his commission to govern Connecticut, he permitted his followers to tear down the arms of the "state's general " affixed to a boundary tree of lands fairly bought of the natives three years before ; and contemptuously carved a grinning face in its stead.
This piece of effrontery (to put it mildly) prompted even the loyal Hollister to say he did not think Winthrop " labored under very oppressive apprehension as to the Connecticut boundary question."
Be this as it may, there was another reason, more potent even than English aggression, that pushed the traders from the vicinity of the planters, viz : they failed to maintain the reputation for fair dealing with the natives whose friendship, in consequence, gave place to savage resentment.
Diedrich Knickerbocker was not altogher faneiful when, in speaking of the traders, he said: "In their trading for pel- teries they were serupulously honest, (?) establishing as an invariable table of avoirdupois that the hand of a Dutchman
21
weighed one pound and his foot two. It was true that the simple Indians were often puzzled by the great disproportion between bulk and weight: for let them place a bundle of furs never so large in one scale, and the Dutchman's foot in the other, the bundle was sure to kiek the beam." The na- tives, awakening to the one-sidedness of this mode of barter, needed but little provocation to put in force their subtlest points of resentment ; and the Dutch soon found the savage arrow and firebrand to be the most persuasive arguments to hasten their departure. But fierce quarrels between the rival colonists were continued for several years along the New Netherland borders, and not infrequently pushed to the happy, orderly villages within that provinee.
When in 1639 the able but impetuous Ludlowe and his fol- lowers left Windsor to settle Fairfield, he found the ubiquit- ous Dutch a formidable obstacle to his somewhat ambitious designs-an obstacle, indeed, over which his ambition tried to vault, but overleapt itself and fell on t'other side. I wish to be perfectly fair to Roger, and before now have attempted to render his memory the homage it invites by reason of con- spienous public service, but it appears quite clear that when, iu 1654, the people of Fairfield took the law into their own hands and appointed Ludlowe leader of the troops to invade New Netherlands, he knew better than to accept what the town had no right to bestow .* He failed in this matter to act for the best interests of the town or colony, and with little or no regard to that code he himself had formulated. His repeated reports to the General Court of Dutch complicity in a plot to exterminate the English do not appear to have had reliable backing ; they were certainly regarded with suspicion, and it was through the adverse action of the court that our baffled and disappointed lawmaker determined to return to England. I suppose, just here, I should pause to make allu- sion to the much mooted question of Ludlowe's destination when he turned his back upon the land of our fathers. He is generally reported, as we know, to have retired to Virginia ; but he is also authoritatively heard from in England about the same time. Now, I think, if I yield a point and observe
" See Note at the end of this article.
22
that possibly he sailed to England from a Virginia port, a proper deferenee is rendered to conflicting opinions. "The truth of this observation lies in the application of it " And so, amiable leave may be taken of the problem with one brief remark ; if the Dutch had got hold of Ludlowe at the time of that very questionable departure, there would have been no mystery now about his final taking off. As has been seen, the traders retreated from early Connectieut very sul- lenly; which faet reminds me of the remark of a somewhat profane confederate commander when told that General Seigel appeared to be making a retrogade movement : "Retreating is he? Then look out ! for when that -- Dutchman begins to fall backwards, he is gathering himself up for a leap forwards."
Our colonial Dutchman, too, promptly changed front, and again facing the English settlements looked sternly toward the lands of which he had been unjustly deprived. Crom- well, on the other side of the water, was shaking his mailed hand at the States General who defiantly began to arm. New Nertherlands, of course, followed suit and for the first time, complained of their Dietator and asked that a new one might be sent out to them who would be equal to this particular time of trouble. He appeared in the person of the renowned Petrus Stuyvesant who, if not blessed with the eustomary allotment of legs, had the average supply of brains. He also was endowed with unequivocal courage, and if falling a little short in manly beauty, had an executive ability that gained the regard of his own people and did not suffer in compari- son with that of his neighbors. Conneetient, too, at this juneture -- with a loyalty not always so hot and ready-was arming. By order of the General Court, Fairfield county put her quota of one hundred and twenty men into the field un- der command of that noted worthy, the Worshipful Major Nathan Gold, who had sneceeded Ludlowe as the leading man of ancient Fairfield. Savage tells us that Gold was at the period the "richest inhabitant in the town. He was a man of sterling character, but unobtrusive-bearing little impres- sion of the "guinea's stamp"; and was so beloved by the
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